Dangote Refinery is adding 17,000 more jobs to its workforce over the next few months.
This was revealed by the President/Chief Executive, Dangote Industries Ltd., Alhaji Aliko Dangote, in a statement signed by the Group Head, Corporate Communications, Dangote Group, Mr Anthony Chiejina, on Sunday in Lagos.
According to the statement, the refinery intends to increase human capacity from 40,000 personnel to 57,000 in the coming months.
The project currently employs 29,000 Nigerians and 11,000 foreigners at the 650,000 barrels-per-day world’s largest single refinery project, located in the Ibeju Lekki area of Lagos State.
Dangote said this was a ratio of about three Nigerians to one expatriate, with a projected increase in local talent with the new additions.
According to the statement, the refinery project remained the biggest in Africa and one of the biggest in the world.
It added that many Nigerians were getting massive training as a way to build in-country capacity.
The chief executive also revealed that the construction of the refinery was informed by his desire to help the Federal Government tackle the lingering issue of petroleum products importation.
He said the refinery project was an investment that would transform the economies of countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
Alhaji Dangote said:
“It makes me feel terrible to see a country as big and resourceful as Nigeria with a high population, importing all its petroleum products, so, we decided it is time to tackle this challenge. It is not the government’s responsibility alone to address the challenge of petroleum products importation in Nigeria. No, we have to collaborate with the government to tackle the issue of petroleum importation. We are creating a lot of capacity in the country, which will be of great help for future oil projects in Nigeria, most especially, with the opening up of the oil industry through the new Petroleum Industry Act. It means that the country can boast of the human capacity, needed in the oil and gas sector. Most of these Nigerians can compete anywhere in the world, in terms of electrical, welding, mechanical erection etc. We have actually created massive capacity.”
He stressed the need for the country to shift attention from crude oil export to a more diversified economy.
“We should not as a country, be comfortable with generating revenue from crude oil export alone, because tomorrow, people may not need crude oil. If we do not move from crude oil to something else, we will have issues as a country. This is one of the things that I took upon myself to help address,” he said.
